


Away from Home, Away from Singledom

by guava



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Jung Yonghwa cameo in name only, M/M, P1Harmony and Cherry Bullet cameos as students, an escape to the pre-pandemic past with casual air travel, indirect mention of boners while making out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-29 01:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30148707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guava/pseuds/guava
Summary: Inseong has never given much thought to his affection for Youngbin until others have mistaken their closeness as a sign that they are dating in secret.It all began when they started getting together more often to plan a joint study trip to Sydney. Few know that before they became teachers working for affiliated schools, they were old friends who had been classmates in high school and coursemates in university.Amused by the rumour about them, Inseong gets Youngbin on board to play along and pretend in Sydney that they are indeed an item. His harmless idea develops into a full-blown attempt at redefining their friendship once Youngbin shares a real secret: that he is actually interested in dating men, in particular at least one man Inseong knows.
Relationships: Kim Inseong/Kim Youngbin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Away from Home, Away from Singledom

Two teachers put their long friendship to a test in a sunlit booth by the window of a cafe. Across the table, they exchanged small squares of memo paper, presented with the blank side up for suspense. What was written on the reverse side of each paper had the potential to spark disapproval or debate: a shortlist of six student applicants for the week-long overseas study trip both teachers had organised. During the upcoming spring vacation, they would bring all twelve successful applicants to Sydney to attend a series of film making workshops.

The trip was a collaboration between the all-boys Yonghwa High School and its affiliated Yonghwa Girls' High School. As part of the collaborative effort, Kim Inseong, the gagman English teacher of Yonghwa High, had suggested to Kim Youngbin, Yonghwa Girls' Social Studies teacher with more visuals than gags, that they trade the applications from their respective schools. And so Inseong reviewed the girls, while Youngbin reviewed the boys.

For the past week, Inseong had spent a good chunk of his after-work hours reviewing one-minute clips that the students submitted as part of their application. There were so many unique and funny works, so much talent to go around, that deciding on the final cut was far from easy. It was hard enough for Inseong, who was also the teacher consultant for his school's drama club, and he imagined that the task was much harder for Youngbin.

Inseong would bet that Youngbin would not mind bringing more students to Australia if extra fundraising was not a problem. He knew his friend's generous spirit well from way back in their own high school days when Youngbin had let Inseong join his team for their sports class despite Youngbin being a competitive athlete and Inseong lacking the ability to even kick a soccer ball in a straight line. Inseong only finished returning Youngbin's favour in university, when they were completing their teacher training degrees and had counted on each other to be a reliable teammate for group projects. 

With their long history, Inseong had a blast organising the school trip with Youngbin and actually liked that they could divide the responsibilities between them without having to bring another teacher on board.

At the moment of truth, Inseong flipped over his piece of paper with the names of the six boys that Youngbin had chosen. Youngbin did the same, looking over Inseong's selection of six girls. As Inseong read down the list before him, his eyes widened in amazement at how synchronized his and Youngbin's minds turned out to be.

"Wow, you've picked the three high achievers from my homeroom," he said.

Youngbin looked up from his list and asked, "Which ones?"

Inseong put down on the table the paper that Youngbin had given him and pointed out Keeho, Jiung and Intak.

"Actually, I really, really hoped that they could go instead of the high achievers from other classes," he admitted. "If we hadn't switched students, someone may call me out for being biased. How do you find my list?"

"I'm very pleased with it," Youngbin replied. "Your critical eye for stage presence, skill and charisma really shines through. You've picked the leading members of my school's drama club though I doubt you know of them."

"Who?"

Showing Inseong the list written in Inseong's handwriting, Youngbin pointed his finger at two names. "Bora and Chaerin."

"Oh, them," Inseong nodded. "To be honest, I did know of them. Before watching their one-minute clips, I've seen their faces in their Instagram profile picture, after they liked your posts and my replies to your posts."

"Ah, Instagram," Youngbin sighed. "I actually have something I need to discuss with you that's related to Instagram."

Inseong understood the hint of exasperation in Youngbin's sigh. Every teacher in both schools under the Yonghwa brand had to maintain an active public Instagram account. If anyone became less active or only put out slapdash posts, they would find the watchers from Human Resources breathing down their necks. It all started when corporate sponsors turned Yoo Taeyang, Yonghwa Girls' handsome Home Economics teacher, into an Instagram influencer as his stories and posts on what he taught for his subject went viral. Thanks to Youngbin's co-worker raising the school's profile, donations from alumni came rolling in along with a rising demand for content from other 'fairytale prince teachers'.

Most of Youngbin's recent Instagram posts were about planning for the Sydney trip. Youngbin had told Inseong that it had given him a much needed break from trying to pinpoint the most interesting details of his otherwise uneventful life to post about. Neither food posts nor Outfit of the Day posts could cut it anymore, as a HR officer had warned in the latest company newsletter.

To protect Youngbin's neck from being breathed down on, and to usher in Youngbin's era as the next princely teacher of Yonghwa Girls, Inseong had taken to engaging the posts on Youngbin's account every single day. He did not have to spend much effort in his own account, what with his stream of ideas for educational memes and roleplaying concepts. He thought that there was no harm in helping Youngbin out, but Youngbin might think differently.

"Have I been showing up too much on your account?" Inseong asked.

"No, I really appreciate your replies to my posts," Youngbin said. "It's just that, it seems to have started some rumours."

"What rumours?"

Youngbin sighed again, then sipped through a black straw at the iced coffee he had ordered. When he had swallowed his drink, he replied, "Rumours about us dating. "

"Did you say us dating?"

As Youngbin had lowered his voice and spoken in a rush, Inseong had to confirm what he had heard. "Dating, as in sharing feelings of passion and romance?" 

Without meeting Inseong's eyes, Youngbin gave a slight nod and said, "Yes, yes."

"Dating, as in going out for drinks and dinner that ends with..."

Inseong completed the rest of his sentence with a well-known hand gesture. After he bent his fingers into an 'OK' sign, he inserted into the 'O' his index finger of his other hand. That provoked Youngbin into reaching out to put his hand over Inseong's fingers, covering up Inseong's suggestive innuendo.

"Stop that!" Youngbin demanded. "I'd rather believe that high schoolers won't think so far." 

"Sure," Inseong said, hoping the smirk on his face wasn't too obvious.

The passing years had barely chipped Youngbin's pure heart. In the name of appreciating Youngbin's precious innocence, Inseong had his fun teasing Youngbin for it.

"Why did your followers think we're dating?" Inseong asked, pulling out his phone to browse Youngbin's Instagram account.

There was a two-shot of them taken after their discussion over dinner about hotels in Sydney. They had dakgalbi that night, very delicious dakgalbi that was worth its price. Youngbin had also taken a video of Inseong stuffing himself and had joked in voiceover that he would be using Inseong's impromptu mukbang to raise his appetite.

Scrolling down further, Inseong read his replies to Youngbin's posts that the girls from Youngbin's school had liked. He tended to end his sentence with a heart emoji, sometimes two. Maybe it was unusual for a grown man, but it was not unusual for Inseong to leave hearts on his friends' SNS posts. Practically all his close friends, aside from Youngbin of course, kept private accounts and so it was a little tricky for Inseong to provide on the spot proof of his affectionate commenting style. 

"It's these heart emojis, right?" Inseong guessed. "What led to the rumours about us dating."

"I think so. Anyway, I've been receiving direct messages sent to show support for our supposed relationship. Even Taeyang sent one."

Youngbin let Inseong read Taeyang's message on his phone, in which Taeyang said that he had always seen the chemistry between them and thought they were a well-matched couple. Inseong was more amused than horrified, but kept that to himself as he noticed Youngbin furrowing his brows. Being mistaken as one half of a couple with Inseong was obviously no laughing matter for him.

"What should we do?" Youngbin asked, switching off his phone's screen and laying it facedown on the table. "Should we debunk these rumours? I'm afraid that might just attract unwanted attention and cost us our jobs."

"That might not happen. This push for us to be active on SNS is part of the higher-up's positioning for our schools to be different from those other conservative, outdated public schools. It'd backtrack their efforts to kick out staff for making non-traditional choices, I think."

Nodding, Youngbin said, "I see your point. I wish I can just put my account on private like those who had become internet famous for the wrong reasons beyond their control." 

"Well, never mind about anyone else, what about you? Do you absolutely hate that people think we're dating?" 

"About that..."

Youngbin said nothing for a while as he crossed his arms, choosing his next words with great care. Inseong waited patiently, a little intrigued that Youngbin seemed to have more complicated feelings about the dating rumours instead of just wanting them gone.

"While I don't like others getting the wrong idea about me, I'm not comfortable with insisting I'm not gay either," Youngbin continued. "It'll be even worse to indirectly promote discrimination against same-sex relationships, especially in a single-sex school."

"Well, there's always the option of letting things continue as they are," Inseong suggested. "Neither confirm nor deny the dating rumours. And let us be our students' gay icons, until the next trending topic rolls around."

"Gay icons?" 

It was clear that Youngbin had never before linked those words to his self-image. He stared at Inseong with his wide eyes and asked, "Are you serious?"

"Hey, it's just an idea." Inseong winked at him. "I'm up for it if you are."

Smiling, Inseong raised his cup to his lips to finish what was left of his cappuccino. Youngbin just continued staring at him without saying a word, perhaps turning over Inseong's idea in his head. He could even be assessing whether he could see Inseong as actual boyfriend material. Though Youngbin had not agreed to anything yet, Inseong went ahead to get into his role and reached for the small clipboard with their tab at the corner of their table. 

Still absorbed in his thoughts, Youngbin looked out the window without noticing that Inseong had gotten to his feet to head to the cash register. He settled their bill, just like what he would do at the end of his dates. 

Maybe if they both knew what lied in store for them in Sydney, they would then see that day in the cafe as their first day.

_**DAY 01** _

Yawning, Inseong dragged his suitcase behind him towards the terminal for his flight. He had not even left the country and already he was missing his bed. Their sorrowful parting happened an hour and a half ago when he had to rise at two in the morning to catch the train to Incheon airport.

At Starbucks, Inseong found Youngbin with a venti cup of coffee, having bought another equally large drink for Inseong. After thanking him with all the graciousness he could muster in the early a.m., Inseong wrapped both hands around his warm cup and started chugging the sweet, sweet caffeine.

"How's that?" Youngbin asked. "Feel like injecting it into your veins?"

"You bet," Inseong replied.

He put his cup down and took in Youngbin's neatly combed hair, black leather jacket, black scoop neck T-shirt and blue jeans. His friend was all set to make a fashionable entrance into Sydney. In contrast, the most thought he had put into his outfit was to choose a long-sleeved navy and white checkered shirt instead of a hoodie to go with his pants, just to appear more teacher-like when the students arrived with their parents.

Giving Youngbin's fresh appearance another once-over, Inseong commented, "You're definitely more of a morning person than me. How did you manage to arrive so early?"

"I didn't sleep. Truth is," Youngbin glanced around their table, like he was checking if anyone was listening in to their conversation, "I had lots to think about."

"About our trip? Do we still have anything to take care of?"

"No." Youngbin shook his head. "I just...okay, I wrote it on your cup sleeve, so I won't back out and not tell you."

He could still have backed out by letting Inseong's sleep-deprived brain overlook what he had done. Instead of pointing that out, Inseong rotated his cup and squinted at the small writing on his cup sleeve:

_'Inseong-ah, I'm gay for real. Do you still want to pretend to date me?'_

There was a heart drawn after the question mark, filled in with black pen ink. Inseong blinked and read the two sentences again, along with the black heart, holding in his urge to act like a cartoon character and pinch himself to make sure that he was awake.

Before him, Youngbin was looking down with his lips pursed and both his hands under the table. It was as if he was prepared for an outburst from Inseong, right in the middle of the airport and right after Inseong got his gears turning with his first cup of coffee.

Finally, Inseong said, "Did you draw that heart because you want me to say 'yes'?" 

He gave Youngbin his brightest smile and caught the corners of Youngbin's lips twitching in return. Youngbin brought his coffee cup to his mouth, covering up his obvious relief. 

"Ah, yes, well," he said. "I just thought it's your style." 

"I'll keep this then, Youngbinnie's precious heart." 

After slipping off the cardboard cup sleeve with Youngbin's writing, Inseong stored it among his belongings in his backpack. They sat in silence for a while as Youngbin drank his coffee and Inseong tried to think of ways to mark the occasion of his old friend coming out to him. Youngbin might not mind if his reveal was treated as no big deal, but Inseong knew better, that Youngbin's sleeplessness stemmed from it being a huge deal for him to share a piece of very personal information about himself. 

Inseong had to ask the staple coming out question. "When did you know that you like men?" 

"I guess I always knew," Youngbin said as he lowered his cup. "It's a cliche answer, but it's true for me." 

Shifting forward to sit on the edge of his seat, Inseong leaned closer to Youngbin and asked, "Were you ever attracted to any guy I know? Any guy that we both know?" 

"Actually...I'll tell you next time!" 

Too shy for more early confessions, Youngbin clapped his hand down on Inseong's upper arm, putting a little distance between them. By cutting his answer short, he had more or less shouted out that he had once had the hots for someone in Inseong's circle. He could even have been nurturing multiple crushes, right under Inseong's nose. Inseong turned away, laughing to himself and willing the patience he needed to resist dragging the name of the lucky guy (or guys) out of Youngbin. 

"Anyway, thanks," Youngbin said, giving Inseong's arm a light squeeze. "For being so understanding." 

"No problem. You could have told me any time." 

Without thinking, Inseong put his hand over Youngbin's fingers on his arm. Youngbin took it as a sign that Inseong wanted Youngbin to stop touching him, and though that was not Inseong's intention, Youngbin drew his hand away. 

"I didn't think you'd be cruel about it," Youngbin said. "Before, I never even thought of telling anyone until the rumour about us dating showed that others could be fine about me liking men. Then I finally felt like coming out, at least to those I trust, and if all goes well nothing much would change in my life." 

As the time to rendezvous with the students approached, they got up from their table and disposed of their empty coffee cups into a metal trash can on their way to the check-in counter. 

"I wouldn't say nothing would change," Inseong commented. "Who knows what would happen once you let your intended targets know that you're available?" 

"But for now--"--He looped his arm around Youngbin's side to pull Youngbin into a quick hug--"--you're not. You belong to me." 

He thought he heard Youngbin gasp as Youngbin's hair brushed against his cheek. When Youngbin looked up at Inseong, Inseong let him know that he was joking with a wink, which Youngbin returned with a soft laugh. 

Though Inseong was dying to know more about Youngbin's taste in men, his investigation would have to wait until they were no longer around the students. Still, he let his eye stray towards Youngbin whenever he could, and had observed Youngbin paying for a Men's Health magazine at the airport bookshop. On the magazine's cover, a buff and shirtless male celebrity showed off his bedroom smile while he rested his hands on the waistband of his dark jeans. 

Those chocolate abs framed by article headlines said it all. Youngbin must be into fit guys, those with six or eight pack who would abandon the embrace of their comforters to hit the gym before sunrise. Perhaps in all the years while Inseong was munching through carbohydrates and living his unathletic life, Youngbin was deep in his lust for muscles and more muscles. 

Inseong had some super fit male friends. For example, the guys from Inseong's drama club back in university had maintained toned bodies to keep up their stamina and strength. No one from that crowd would be put off by Youngbin coming out since the club also served as a gathering for unconventional and non-straight young adults. 

If Youngbin had in their university days confided in Inseong about his sexuality, Inseong's first thought would have been to set Youngbin up with someone from the drama club. But perhaps Youngbin was not interested in any of the members and had said nothing to Inseong in case Inseong insisted on being a nosy matchmaker. 

On the plane, Inseong kept his thoughts to himself. He barely spoke a word to Youngbin though they were sitting in the same row. His student Keeho had taken the window seat and Youngbin had let Inseong sit by the aisle, being a gracious gentleman as he accepted the unfavourable middle seat of their row. 

When Keeho had to use the toilet, Inseong and Youngbin stood to let him pass. As both teachers sat back down, Inseong jumped on his chance to comment on Youngbin's choice of reading material.

He waited for Youngbin to reopen his copy of Men's Health before nudging his elbow against Youngbin's arm.

He said in a whisper, "So are you into Men's Health's cover models? Or just guys who could model for Men's Health?" 

At first, Youngbin was startled by Inseong returning to their earlier topic, then he recovered and narrowed his eyes at Inseong. 

"I'm into the articles of this magazine," he insisted. 

"Really? You're really reading Men's Health for the articles?" 

"Yeah, I catch up with all their issues, even the one with Lee Byunghun wearing a shirt on the cover and basically announcing that he had cheated on his diet. I would have skipped that issue if I was just buying it for the models' visuals." 

"Gosh, Lee Byunghun." Inseong sighed and shook his head. "You've got a really expensive taste. I should have known from your casual way of ordering expensive beef at restaurants." 

They were interrupted as Keeho reappeared by their side and needed to return to his seat. Once they were settled down again, Youngbin picked his magazine back up without saying a word to Inseong. 

Inseong took a peek at the title of the article Youngbin was reading--'Break Out of the Prison of Your Fats With the Prison Workout'--which he admitted did sound interesting, but not as interesting as the American romantic comedy he was watching on the in-flight entertainment system. 

_**DAY 02** _

Before Inseong switched off the lamp beside his hotel bed, he heard Youngbin say, "Inseong-ah, don't flirt so much when you're around me."

"Hmm? When was I flirting?" Inseong asked, drawing his hand away from the light switch.

On the other bed in their shared room, Youngbin turned on his pillow to face him.

"When you were chatting with our workshop coordinator at dinner," Youngbin replied.

Inseong thought back to the welcome dinner arranged by their Australian partner for the study trip. He happened to be seated next to the main workshop coordinator, a friendly blonde lady in her mid-30s with whom he had been exchanging emails on administrative matters for the past few months. While they sat together at the corner of their table, the workshop instructors and teaching assistants sat mingled among Youngbin and the students so they could all get to know one another.

Of course, none of Inseong's talk with the lady coordinator had anything to do with official business. But he could not think of anything he said or done which seemed flirtatious, anything that would count as inappropriate behaviour for a social event with high schoolers.

"Maybe it's just a misunderstanding," Inseong said. "After all, we were talking in English."

"No one needs much English to get the impression that you're interested in her, when you whispered in her ear."

"Ah, that..."

It was indeed nothing more than a misunderstanding. And Youngbin was not the only one who had misunderstood. When Inseong had cupped his hand over his conversation partner's ear, he had noticed the uneasy and frustrated looks on some of the girls, and assumed that they were trying to string an English sentence together to chat with the workshop staff. Now he understood that they had gotten the wrong idea that they had caught a cheater red-handed.

"I wasn't flirting. That lady coordinator is also an anime fan and the way the boys and girls alternate seats reminded me of an old anime meme based on a Japanese song," Inseong explained. "I sang it to her like I was telling her a secret so our Japanese students wouldn't hear me butchering their language."

"Hmm...whatever you say. Since I was never very into anime, you might have made up that anime meme for all I know."

"Hey!" Sitting upright on his bed, Inseong declared, "I may be a fake boyfriend, but I'm not a liar or a cheater!"

Instead of agreeing or disagreeing, Youngbin just turned over and pulled his comforter over his head. Their discussion was over, ending their first night in Sydney with Inseong being unsure whether his so-called flirting had actually ticked Youngbin off or not. He could only lie back down in a huff while a part of him built up his defense against Youngbin's view of him as a shameless flirt.

When morning arrived, he woke to his alarm and a text from Youngbin telling him that he had left the room to get some breakfast. Alone, Inseong got ready and went to explore the area near the hotel. His walk brought him to a bakery cafe on the first floor of the building in the next block, where he bought a croissant and a hot cup of coffee.

Then he returned to the hotel lobby and found Youngbin waiting for him on a funky lime green couch. Right on schedule, they counted up the assembling students and herded them to the campus of the film school for their first film making workshop. While Youngbin led the way with Google Maps open on his phone, Inseong fell back to keep any students from walking astray or getting separated from the group at a pedestrian light. 

Their brisk walk through the streets allowed them to soak in the gentle sunshine and breathe in the fresh morning air. Under the bright blue sky, Inseong let the cool breeze lift up his excitement for what the day would bring. The students' workshop session would last until it was time for lunch and while he and Youngbin could not go far into the city in those few hours, he was sure that they could always find pockets of fun close by. 

Sure enough, the perfect activity presented itself at the entrance of the film school's trendy library on a standing sign holder with an announcement for a free art jamming session open to the public. Anyone could write their names down on a sign-up sheet, grab a drawing pad and drawing samples, then plop themselves down on colourful beanbags next to art materials held in tin cans.

Youngbin was game for doing some learning like the students and selected a drawing sample of the Sydney Opera House. Unlike him, Inseong preferred to go freestyle. Sinking into a magenta beanbag opposite of Youngbin, he picked a 2B pencil to put to his drawing pad.

Across the blank paper, he sketched a likeness of Youngbin. He kept peering over the top of his paper, noting the fine details of Youngbin's features that he would then capture with his pencil. His staring must have been too heavy with intent as his model shifted in his indigo beanbag and stared back at him.

"Inseong-ah," Youngbin curved the corners of his lips up into a smile, "are you drawing me?"

Inseong stopped moving his pencil to say, "How can I draw anything but you?"

"What," Youngbin laughed and continued, "What does that even mean?"

"It means I get that you want me to only have eyes for you. So that's what I'll do."

Youngbin poked Inseong's knee with a black marker and said, "Hey, cut that out."

"Cut what out?"

"Your flirting. You don't have to do that when no one's watching."

"Oh, but I have to," Inseong insisted. "I have to show you what my _real_ flirting is like so you'll know when I'm actually doing it."

It was entertaining to watch Youngbin squirm and sputter half-hearted objections against Inseong's flirting demonstration. Still, he didn't move away or try to hide his face, allowing Inseong to continue drawing him as he finished his own piece of art. After copying the last line from his sample, he showed Inseong a hand-drawn version of the Sydney Opera House that looked more like a plate of sliced mangoes on sticky rice.

Inseong told Youngbin that and added, "Maybe your stomach is craving for Thai food."

"It may look better with some colour," Youngbin mused.

From the can of coloured markers between them, he picked a yellow marker without hiding that he had given up on reproducing Sydney's most iconic building.

Inseong continued drawing on another page, starting a new portrait of Youngbin in a different artstyle. Then Youngbin picked up a pencil too and announced his intention to draw Inseong's portrait. Inseong could only take his turn at being self-conscious about how he looked that morning, hoping that there was no crust in the corners of his eyes and that the parting of his hair was just right. His pride forbid him from hiding behind his drawing pad, even when he thought he stuck his lips out too much as he reapplied his lip balm.

That habit of his resulted in his mouth taking up half the page in Youngbin's drawing. Still, its fullness was rather complimentary as compared to Youngbin's heavy strokes above it that added up to a pair of bulging eyes and a nose that resembled a skateboard slope. 

Youngbin also found some redeeming points about Inseong's first portrait of him, thanking Inseong for giving him broad shoulders and veiny arms. He was less than pleased with the second one, in which Inseong portrayed him as the ahjussi that his young students saw him as. All in all, they both had not yet reached the level of artistic ability where they could insert brilliant illustrations in their lesson handouts.

The students had agreed, yet Youngbin's drawing of a building that became a dessert turned out to fare much better among them. It had given him an excuse to order the actual dish to photograph side by side with his drawing at the end of their lunch in an authentic Thai restaurant that Inseong happened to spot. While Inseong took a picture too and uploaded it on Instagram, Youngbin ate one mango slice and let the kids share the rest.

The rest of their day was spent in the actual Sydney Opera House. Inside the impressive piece of architecture, Inseong put his flirting aside to concentrate on the guided tour and selecting souvenirs from the gift shop.

A dinner booking had been arranged for everyone to have a plate of Southern Fried Chicken, fries and soft drink of their choice at the Opera Kitchen. After that, they moved to one of the large concert halls to listen to the Australian Youth Orchestra, where Inseong put on his most cultured look and nudged awake the boys on his either side whenever they were on the brink of nodding off. 

_**DAY 03** _

Sleeping in was not an option if Inseong wanted to tag along with Youngbin for a drive to the Blue Mountains. Through a recommended service from the hotel's receptionist, they rented a bright red Toyota Corolla and joined the morning traffic flowing towards the Great Western Highway. Youngbin was going to do all the driving while Inseong was in charge of reading the signs in English.

In theory, Inseong could offer to drive half of the distance they had to cover. He had after all scraped through his practical test for getting his driver's license. But he was nothing behind the wheel compared to Youngbin for whom parallel parking and changing lines was child's play. Inseong would rather sit tight in shotgun than challenge Youngbin's mastery on the road.

Their breakfast were sandwiches and coffee bought at a gas station chain after filling their car's fuel tank. Inseong could eat in peace after he had received a text from Keeho that told him all the students were punctual for the day's workshop session. It would last for the whole day and unless there was an emergency, Inseong and Youngbin did not have to return to Sydney before night fell.

They might have to turn back too if a storm started raging, which would then make sightseeing pointless. So far, they did not have to worry about that, as the fine weather from the day before continued to hold up. The warmth of the car's window from the sun, along with Youngbin's smooth driving, threatened to lull Inseong back to sleep.

He fought the urge to give in and let Youngbin do all the work. As his eyelids grew heavier, and he struggled to keep them open, he heard Youngbin say, "It's all right, you can catch some rest."

"Mmm, really?" Inseong rubbed the side of his hand over his eyes, then lowered it to cover a yawn. "You won't mind?"

"Yeah, I can just follow the GPS from here on. Besides, it'd be dangerous to get sleepy when we're walking up a mountain."

"Okay..." Inseong mumbled, nestling his head against the window and drifting off. 

When he opened his eyes again, he could see the mountains in the distance. He glanced to his side, catching the small smile on Youngbin's face that complemented Youngbin's top notch driving with just one hand on the steering wheel. Even as the road started to curve, Youngbin continued to handle the wheel in his relaxed way.

The fresh air and greenery of Wentworth Falls cleansed Inseong's lungs and eyes. On stepping out of the car, Inseong stretched his legs and was confident that they could take him all the way to the mountain top. He changed his mind as he read a wooden sign stating that the hike to the waterfalls would take an hour along a track with a moderate grade.

He should have known that for his underused muscles, even a 'moderate' level of physical activity was like grueling training for the Olympics. In the middle of a climb up a long flight of steps, he stopped a few steps below Youngbin to huff and pant, losing his battle in his fight against gravity.

Youngbin returned to him to rest his hand on Inseong's back and ask, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Just a little tired," Inseong claimed though his chest continued to heave. "How long has it been since we started?"

Youngbin checked his watch. "About twenty minutes."

That meant they were only one-third of the way into the track. Inseong imagined hurling himself over the stair's railing and down towards the earth.

Shrugging off his desperation and despair, he clung onto the railing and said, "Okay, I've got enough rest. Let's continue."

"I think we can switch to the shorter track when we reach the top of these stairs," Youngbin suggested.

Before he continued climbing, Inseong grabbed his wrist.

Inseong shook his head, saying, "No, I want to finish this track. I love the outdoors as much as you do."

"Really?" Youngbin peered at him. "Since when?"

"Since..." Inseong sighed as he gave in to the reality that his brain was not up to the task of presenting himself as a nature lover. "Well, we can't give up! As the sign says, this is supposed to be a moderate challenge. Besides, since you did all the driving, it won't be fair for me to spoil your fun."

"You can always just pay for my lunch," Youngbin replied. "And that sign is probably doing what we and all teachers do when talking about tests, saying that it's not so hard when you know the opposite is true."

Indeed, it was as if the mountain was punishing Inseong for committing the typical teaching sin. He forgot to let go of Youngbin's hand and allowed Youngbin to guide his pace up the stairs while he recalled all those times he tried to fool his class through understating the difficulty level of his tests. When they had no more steps left, Inseong released Youngbin, only for Youngbin to take him by his forearm as they spotted a sign pointing to the nearer Fletcher's Lookout.

They managed to take snapshots of the rushing waterfall despite leaving their original track. Inseong took some selcas against the breathtaking view and some shots with Youngbin before putting his phone away to better appreciate the vast wilderness that dwarfed visitors from the urban world. A quick look down was enough to give him vertigo and he shuddered, gripping his fingers tight around the metal railing.

Turning to Youngbin, he said, "Know what, standing here reminds me of a scene from an old drama. The one with Lee Byunghun, one of our country's biggest stars who has yet to meet Kim Youngbin's high standards."

"Which scene?" Youngbin asked, ignoring Inseong's teasing.

"That part in All In where he just stands at the edge of a cliff without any guard rail, looking down while the camera circled 360 degrees around him. He had no lines then, but I can see why he was paid lots of money for standing silently."

Youngbin laughed. "Why?"

"Only a world class actor could stay calm and in character at a place like that," Inseong explained. "Even if I was a sexy daredevil gambler, I'd be worrying about plunging to my death, not brooding over my star-crossed romance with Song Hyekyo."

"Oh, she's the female lead?" Youngbin said. "Since you're playing the role of Lee Byunghyun, how can I be more like Song Hyekyo's character?"

Inseong gave Youngbin a once-over, thought back to the drama and said, "Well, we can get you a nun costume."

The descent was a lot easier on Inseong's aching calf muscles. With all the calories he had burned, he was famished enough to not bat an eyelash at the prices on the menu of the restaurant where they had driven to. Inseong was determined to stuff himself and keep his word to let Youngbin do the same, and could not continue appreciating the beauty of the scenery until their orders arrived.

Dining alfresco while inhaling more fresh mountain air soon restored Inseong's strength. Between his rib-eye steak and Youngbin's pasta in thick crabmeat sauce, they had set down a bowl of Caesar salad to share. While Inseong chomped on his meat, Youngbin alternated between working through his sauce-coated and spearing crisp leaves of lettuce with his fork. 

"It feels like forever since I ate kimchi," Youngbin said as he studied the light creamy dressing on his lettuce. "How about visiting Koreatown for supper tonight or tomorrow evening? We could get some soju too."

"Okay, sounds good. Along with missing Korean food, could you also be missing any Korean guys?"

Just like Inseong thought, Youngbin did not answer right away. Youngbin kept his mouth occupied through chewing more pasta as he looked down, shaking his head slightly. He seemed to be half-sighing, half-chuckling at Inseong's swerve towards solving the mystery of who he was actually attracted to back home.

Inseong himself could not explain why he itched to know. It just hit him as he was filling his stomach, and getting less hangry, that the open air restaurant they were at was a rather romantic place. Perhaps Youngbin might look back and replace Inseong with someone else, and before their present became a memory, Inseong would like to know what kind of man he would be edited out for.

"Could it be our Taeyang?" Inseong asked. "Could you be hiding your feelings and telling yourself that you'll only be content with letting him be your sun at work?"

Youngbin swallowed his food and replied, "Now you're just writing your own drama scenarios."

"I've got a reason for my suspicion," Inseong revealed. "There was that Instagram story where you filmed yourself following Taeyangie's kimchi recipe."

"Couldn't you tell that I was just ripping off his content?"

"You never rip off _my_ content," Inseong said and cringed a little as he sounded brattier than he intended, as if Youngbin ripping off his SNS posts was his secret wish.

Barreling on, he continued, "I thought you were trying to get Taeyangie's attention with that kimchi."

"I also needed to stock more kimchi in my fridge," Youngbin said. "And it's impossible for me to rip off your content. The workings of your mind are just too mysterious for me, or anyone, to imitate."

Was that good or bad? Inseong could ask if Youngbin was complimenting him or not, but then they might get side-tracked.

Instead, he asked, "So how was that kimchi? You'll definitely need some when you invite your ideal type over to your place for ramyeon."

"The kimchi was terrible. You can try some when we get back if you don't believe me," Youngbin offered. "Anyway, why are you talking about other guys? Aren't we on a date?"

"W-We are!?"

A flash of déjà vu struck Inseong as his mouth fell open. Earlier, he had succeeded catching Youngbin off-guard, and then the tables had turned. Youngbin tried to hide his glee behind a sip of water, failing as he let loose a few giggles with his front teeth pressed against the rim of his glass.

"We're in a romantic restaurant with a table just for ourselves and having an expensive meal," he said. "Isn't it more strange if we're not on a date?"

"Erm...is it?" Inseong was unsure of what else to say.

Youngbin gave a shrug that could have meant anything, then nudged the bowl of salad closer to Inseong. "Here, have some more vegetables, jagiya."

After calling Inseong that, Youngbin had another case of the giggles. A stranger watching them might think he had gone nuts, even as he covered his mouth behind his hand to maintain some of his dignity. There was nothing Inseong could do except to finish the salad and wait for Youngbin to regain his sanity while the sound of Youngbin's laughter rose up to the white clouds above. 

If it was a date Youngbin wanted, it was a date he would get. A date with real skinship that could be done in public. On the short drive to their next stop, Inseong was fired up with inspiration to figure out Youngbin's ideal romance, from which he could work backwards to define Youngbin's ideal type.

He was not just satisfying his growing curiosity. What he wanted to do was to show that he was a trustworthy friend with whom Youngbin did not have to censor information related to his sexuality. Though Youngbin was willing to come out to him, he remained evasive in discussing attractive men with him and wary of sharing his point of view. Inseong supposed that Youngbin saw him as more straight and prudish than Inseong thought he was, and so Youngbin doubted that Inseong could understand him.

In the idyllic Leura Village, Inseong set out to prove Youngbin wrong. They strolled side by side on the wide pavement, passing houses and low-rise buildings that kept a clear view of the sky and the mountains beyond.

Inseong focused on an empty wooden bench a few steps away from them. Once they had passed it, he stepped closer to Youngbin and said, "Youngbin-ah."

It was his only warning before he took Youngbin's hand. Without leading in through touching Youngbin's wrist or forearm first, he just brought their palms together. Youngbin started as their fingers brushed, but he did not pull away.

"Why are you--"

"Yeah?" Inseong raised his eyebrows and linked their fingers togethers. "We're just doing what people on real dates do."

"Why...Why do you want to?" Youngbin asked.

Even as he questioned Inseong's motives, he had yet to shrug Inseong off.

"You don't want to? I can just let go of this hand," Inseong lifted their joined hands, "and end our date. Then can I ask you again who you like?"

"NO!" Youngbin yelped, tightening his clasp around Inseong's hand.

Inseong almost tripped over his own feet. The daylight surrounding them seemed to pour into him and his steps felt lighter as Youngbin pulled him along. Inseong was happier than he thought he would be over Youngbin wanting to hold his hand and continue their so-called date. He told himself that Youngbin's interest just lied in keeping his crush a secret, nothing to do with his feelings for Inseong.

He could not do anything about the quickening beat of his heart. It was accompanied by a rising dread for when Youngbin would let go of him and cut short their playacting as a couple. The warmth of Youngbin's hand matched the atmosphere of the lovely village, which was filled with a tranquility that encouraged those passing through it together to grow even closer. 

In front of a shop for trinkets, Youngbin released Inseong's hand. Inseong stood rooted in his spot with his arm hanging limp by his side and his mind a blank until Youngbin called for him. As they started browsing, Inseong observed his heartrate returning to normal and found that he rather missed his earlier excitement. 

The last time he had held hands with someone seemed very long ago. Longer still was him thinking that the hand he was holding seemed to fit perfectly in his. He must be starved for physical intimacy, only finding that he had enough of being single when he was near one of his sweetest and most handsome friends. 

While he was with Youngbin, he should file away the problem of meeting his own needs. It was a problem that he could better deal with later instead of during a rare overseas trip when he would rather devote his energy into taking in whatever he could not easily find back home. 

Youngbin could be thinking similar thoughts when he let Inseong take his hand. He would have to be more careful in Seoul when choosing a guy to hold hands with for a casual walk down the street. For him, being with Inseong and acting lovey-dovey among strangers, was likely to be a refreshing change from pretending to be straight. 

Without question, Youngbin was even more starved for affectionate touches than Inseong was. There was no way Inseong could not notice that from how Youngbin started to slip his hand in and out of Inseong's hold without separating himself away from Inseong for long. Later, he kept holding onto Inseong on their walk from Golf Links Lookout in Leura to Gordon Falls Lookout, which was so effortless that there was barely any sweat on both their palms. 

Their date--Inseong decided to see their day trip as a date from start to finish--did not have to end when they returned to town. As they shared a box of chocolates from Josophan's Fine Chocolates and rode down the expressway, in the opposite direction from which they came, Youngbin brought up his earlier suggestion to hit Koreatown. 

"We've only been here for three days. Do you really miss Korean dishes that much?" Inseong asked, about to offer alternatives for dinner when a buzzing sound interrupted his thoughts. 

It did not come from his phone, but from Youngbin's phone that had been placed in the car's phone holder. Its screen was lit up with a notification for a new message. 

"Could you check that for me?" Youngbin asked.

Inseong took down Youngbin's phone to open the unread text and summarize its contents. "It's from Intak, as in my student Hwang Intak. His team wants to do guerilla busking for their film project. As he has heard that you're the teacher consultant for your school's dance club, he would like some advice on covering the choreography of some popular songs."

"I see," Youngbin said. "How did he get my number?" 

"From Remi," Inseong replied. "They're in the same team. Isn't she the Japanese student from your school?" 

Youngbin nodded. "Yeah, and she's also the current chairperson for the dance club. Who else is in their team?" 

"Shota, the Japanese boy. I guess Intak bravely stepped up to text in polite language for the Japanese kids." 

"You know," Youngbin smiled as he glanced at Inseong and commented, "I really like how you speak well of your students even when you don't have to. It's obvious why you get along so well with them." 

Inseong smiled back at him, pleased that Youngbin praised him for praising his student. But he was not going to be too proud of himself just yet. He had to get down to doing his own advising like Youngbin, fulfilling part of his teacherly duties for the study trip to provide guidance for the students' work. 

After he had texted Keeho and Jiung, his two homeroom students, he joined them in their hotel room. Kim Jongseob, the underclassman whom the boys had roped into their team was there too. The three of them were in the middle of reviewing videos from the Asian Boss Youtube channel to use as reference and inspiration for filming their own street interview in Sydney. 

Keeho and Jiung had resolved from the start to create content that involved practising their spoken English. Inseong had given them his advice even before they applied for the trip, which essentially boiled down to, 'Go for it!' He learned from a short conversation with Jongseob that the younger boy was the easygoing type and that there was no clash of ideas within the team that called for mediation. 

In short, there was nothing for Inseong to do except to hang out, lounge on the carpeted floor with the boys and gossip about what went on during their filmmaking workshops. 

"If this trip is going to bring any interschool couple together, it'd be those two Japanese," Jiung predicted. "Intak already seems like the third wheel in their group."

"Maybe he'd crack that language barrier with his dance skills," Inseong countered.

"What about Taeyang and those two girls in his group?" Jongseob asked. "They seemed really excited to have him as a teammate."

As Inseong recalled, the student Choi Taeyang was a shy boy with long legs and delicate features that perhaps attracted more attention than he liked.

"They were just eager to get their hands on a male lead for their short film," Keeho replied. "I get that they didn't want to do yet another all female production. Taeyang didn't and he was pretty freaked out when they approached him."

"Who knows, I might scout him for our drama club after watching their film," Inseong said.

He read the time off the clock on his phone and asked, "Have you boys eaten dinner?"

"Yeah, ssaem, we just finished that," Jiung said, jerking his thumb backwards at a small trash can in which empty disposable bowls that had contained instant ramyeon mounted above its opening.

"What, instant food for dinner! Do you want to stunt your growth?"

"Ssaem, you should save your lecture for when you're not depleting our stash," Keeho said, staring at the sealed bowl of kimchi ramyeon in Inseong's lap.

"You said I could take one," Inseong reminded him. "And this isn't for me, this is for my roommate."

"Oh, that other ssaem. You couldn't be..." Keeho gulped, wincing a little before continuing, "You couldn't be trying to get him to forgive you for cheating on him with instant noodles, right?"

"With instant noodles!" In disbelief, Inseong just repeated what Keeho had said. "What gave you the idea?"

"The other girls were pretty disgusted when you were brazenly flirting with the workshop lady, right in front of your significant other and everybody," Jiung explained. 

"That was just a misunderstanding. And how did you hear about Youngbin-ssaem and me?"

Inseong froze as he saw that his question implied that he and Youngbin were indeed together. He should have asked the boys _what_ they had heard about him and Youngbin if he did not want to confirm the the rumour that they were dating. But it did not matter, since he had not set out to disprove that he was not dating another man.

"The Instagram algorithm showed us you flirting with him under his posts," Keeho said. "Wait, I know. Could you be in one of those progressive relationships in which two people are together, yet allow each other to flirt with anyone?"

"An open relationship," Jiung chimed in.

Inseong sighed, shaking his head. He might never get used to being amazed at the kind of stuff kids these days knew. "I really wasn't flirting, I was just telling that lady about an old anime meme."

He reached for the laptop still open on Youtube and searched for the meme. It had spread into many different anime fandoms that someone had compiled into one handy video, which Inseong clicked on to introduce the boys to the catchy 2-minute Japanese song that had spawned the meme.

"What does 'danjo' mean?" Jongseob asked.

"Boy and girl," Inseong said. He pointed at the animation in the video and added, "See how the boys alternate with the girls like in our welcome dinner."

The three boys nodded. Then Keeho brought his hands together and said, "Okay, now I really get it. You can't talk about this meme in front of your boyfriend because you don't want him to know that you're an otaku."

Inseong could not bear to tell him that that ship had sailed about a decade ago.

As the video compilation ended, Jiung said, "Ssaem, now that you're going out with someone, there's something I'd like to ask."

"Yes?"

Inseong sat up straighter. At last, he was called on to act as a mentor to teenage boys taking large strides into adulthood. He was all set to answer questions related to his non-single status and would not back down if he was asked to illuminate the intricacies of same sex attraction or how friends could become lovers. From his day with Youngbin in the Blue Mountains, he thought he had broadened his perspective on those two topics.

"Would you be posting less on Insta?" Jiung asked. "Since you'd be busy dating, I mean."

Right away, all the wind went out of Inseong. So much for playing the role of the wiser adult. "Don't worry, I'll still keep the posts coming. The class will miss my memes if I don't post new ones, won't they?"

"Uhh..."

Jiung and Keeho glanced at each other, hoping that the other boy would offer their teacher a tactful answer before they both settled for mumbling the classic "no comment". 

_**DAY O4** _

None of the students were going to host a mukbang and call it a day for the ten-minute film project that they had to complete by the end of the trip. All four teams of three had at least a basic concept in mind for what they wanted to shoot, as Inseong had learnt after he and Youngbin had checked up on their progress. They had chosen the trip's applicants well, and so they did not really have to rein the kids in from fooling around (too much).

Inseong had high hopes that the students would produce a work that might not be high art, but was a piece of effort that they could take pride in as they got older. Still, some elements of artistry in the final work couldn't hurt, and he included a trip to the Art Gallery of New Southwales for the students to hunt for inspiration.

Along with centuries old paintings and sculptures that were treasures of the world, a section of the gallery was dedicated to modern art. It was mostly taken up with an exhibition for art created from 3D printing, which Inseong returned to at the end of his walk through the other spacious rooms with identical off-white walls and wooden flooring.

Inseong stood before the display of a 3D printer that had been dismantled and had its mechanical innards mounted on the wall. In another corner of the same room, Youngbin was watching a video on a wide television screen and had his eyes turned away from Inseong. They had not talked much that day as they woke up at different times, bought their own breakfasts and had sat apart on the train while getting to the gallery with the students.

Inseong thought twice about going over to Youngbin, holding back his impatience to discuss what had happened between them since their drive yesterday. Nothing had changed in the way Youngbin spoke and looked at him, and Youngbin had not given him any signs that he wanted to get giggly and hold hands again.

It was possible that Youngbin had lost interest in holding hands with just a friend, but Inseong would rather not think so. The effect of him taking Youngbin's hand, in turning up the lightness in Youngbin's laughter and the brightness in Youngbin's smile, had given him a new idea.

He would drop all questions about who Youngbin liked. Instead, he would get Youngbin to forget whoever that guy was through holding Youngbin's hand and more.

After walking an entire round of the room, Inseong reached Youngbin's side. He started watching the same video Youngbin was watching. A voiceover of a woman with an Australian accent explained the various uses of 3D printing while a clip showed a montage of Australian researchers from different industries at work with a 3D printer.

"Seems interesting," Inseong commented.

"Oh, hey there," Youngbin greeted, turning sideways at him with a smile and both hands inside the pockets of his grey jacket. "Yeah, it'd be more interesting if I could understand it."

They continued watching the video. Then Youngbin asked, "Want to have lunch and hang out afterwards?"

"Sure," Inseong replied. "Where shall we go?" 

"Mm, I was thinking of checking out the zoo. The aquarium is right beside it..."

While Youngbin was talking, Inseong ran his hand down the crook of Youngbin's arm. He could not wait anymore to see if Youngbin had enough of his casual touches. Youngbin turned to him with widened eyes, then snorted and let out a soft chuckle that encouraged Inseong to continue.

"Are you flirting with me?" Youngbin asked, keeping his tone light yet revealing a hint of earnestness. It told Inseong that Youngbin was rather hoping that he was not just playing around.

"Yeah," Inseong said, spreading his fingers out over Youngbin's arm as he continued stroking the length between Youngbin's wrist and elbow. "I'm continuing my flirting from yesterday."

"Really? Will today be a repeat of yesterday?" Youngbin smirked and added, "Even the part where you paid for my lunch?"

"Maybe that part too, if you pay me back in some way..."

He began to take one of Youngbin's hands out of Youngbin's jacket pocket. Youngbin let him, though he mumbled a token protest about being in the same building as their students. After Inseong promised that he would just take a while, he brought their palms together.

"This is nice," he said, running his thumb over the side of Youngbin's index finger.

"It is," Youngbin agreed. "But would you mind doing this where lots of people can see us? There'll be lots more people in town than in that little village we were in yesterday."

"I don't mind." Inseong held Youngbin's hand a little tighter. "Anyway, I'd need to collect multiple installments for the cost of your lunch."

"Oh, no." Youngbin laughed, squeezing around Inseong's hand. "And here I thought one touch of my hand could pay for my entire meal."

As it happened, lunch was on both of them. Inseong's wallet, stuffed with bills of Australian dollars from his adult salary, had possessed a strong magnetism that attracted all three of his homeroom boys. Soft with seeing their enthusiasm to hit the streets and start shooting their film projects, Inseong agreed to treat them and their team members to large slices of pizza. Since Remi was eating with them, Youngbin offered to split the bill, saving Inseong's wallet from losing too much weight just as its owner was getting heavier.

Animal watching with Youngbin allowed Inseong to burn some calories and get rid of his post-meal sleepiness. While the aquarium was impressive, they had more to do at the zoo, where the animals seemed to like Youngbin better than Inseong. After Youngbin had ducked into a nook separated from the rest of the zoo to come face to face with a huge crocodile, Inseong did the same, only to find the crocodile swimming to the opposite side of its pool. As they walked among the smaller and tamer animals in an outdoor enclosure, Youngbin took up the zookeeper's suggestion to offer an emu some food on his palm.

Inseong stepped up to copy Youngbin though he trembled beside the large bird. Failing to steady his hand, he dropped the food on the ground as the emu bent its long neck towards his hand and grazed its beak against the bare skin of his palm.

Out of shock, he fell backwards on both his hands. While Youngbin rushed to help him up, he sputtered apologies to both the zookeeper and the emu for being clumsy. Youngbin held his arm as he led Inseong back into the zoo, then sat Inseong down on one of the wooden backless benches for visitors.

"Does it hurt?" Youngbin asked, kneading his fingers into Inseong's palm and inspecting the fading red spots left by the coarse soil that Inseong had dusted off.

"A little." Inseong compromised acting tough in favour of getting Youngbin to fuss over him. "What's your secret for befriending Australian animals?"

"My what?"

"Your secret for getting the animals in this zoo to like you, like with the crocodile and the emu. And with the koala too," Inseong said, recalling their earlier encounter with Australia's most famous animal. "It stopped taking its nap just for you take its photo, willingly being cute for you, but not for me. By the time I had my camera ready, it closed its eyes and won't open them again!"

"Oh, that," Youngbin said. "I know why that koala was like that."

"Is it because of your pheromones?" Acting serious, Inseong started sniffing the curve of Youngbin's neck, breathing in the refreshing scent of Youngbin's cologne. "Special exotic pheromones from East Asia."

"No way!" Youngbin raised his shoulder to block Inseong's nose from his neck. "If that was the case, won't the animals be just as attracted to you and all the other East Asian tourists?"

"What I want to say," he continued, "is that the koala probably didn't like that you're cuter than it. That's why it couldn't stand looking at you."

"Me, cuter than a koala?!"

Inseong could not believe that was how Youngbin actually saw him. He needed a ceasefire in their back and forth teasing before their words got more suggestive and he might go too far in testing the boundaries of their friendship. He would save escalating his advances for when he had a better idea of the depth of Youngbin's attachment to that other unknown guy.

Pulling Youngbin along by the hand, Inseong insisted on seeing the other cute animals in the zoo.

None of the Australian wildlife ignored him anymore as if some of Youngbin's appeal had rubbed off on him. Youngbin might laugh off his theory, but he did not try to discredit it through moving away. Even after they left the zoo to walk around Darling Harbour, he continued to stick close to Inseong.

As they circled the harbour, Youngbin tucked two of Inseong's fingers between his palm and his fingers. Inseong then stared at him while Youngbin just stared straight ahead with a little smile.

Inseong tried to guess what that smile meant. Perhaps Youngbin was falling for him. In that case, it wouldn't hurt for him to get Youngbin to fall a little deeper. He brought Youngbin's attention to an eatery with a display freezer full of various ice-cream flavours and invited Youngbin to pick one he liked. Youngbin picked a scoop of strawberry cheesecake while Inseong had Baileys vanilla.

As they walked away with both their cones, Youngbin commented, "We'll have less room in our stomach if we have dessert first."

"If that's a problem for you, I'll eat yours."

Mimicking the emu they had met, Inseong struck at the top of Youngbin's ice-cream with his mouth and neck. Before his lips grazed the cold pale yellow cream with flecks of dark pink, Youngbin had thwarted his aim, running from him and shouting over his shoulder, "No! This is mine!"

Only when Inseong let him eat some of his ice-cream did Youngbin slow his steps down. From his few sweet licks of Baileys, he gained a craving for actual liquor. Inseong clinked mugs of beer with him over a dinner of pork ribs in dark brown barbecue sauce at one of the harbourside restaurants, then they took their drinking to Koreatown where they switched beer for soju.

After downing a shot in one gulp, Youngbin swayed in his seat and mumbled, "Shall we keep going? Shall we buy more bottles and drink until the sun rises?

"Don't think that's a good idea," Inseong said. "Do you want to waste half a day in a foreign country on a hangover?"

"Mm...maybe not," Youngbin replied.

But he still nudged his empty glass against Inseong's hand to get Inseong to refill his glass. When Inseong did nothing, he began stroking his fingers over the back of Inseong's wrist. Inseong clutched the edge of the table, trying not to shudder, debating with himself whether to seize Youngbin's hand or to pour Youngbin his last drink.

He let Youngbin have his drink. As Youngbin licked its last drops from his lips, Inseong took in the flush on Youngbin's cheeks and ears. Youngbin was more than a little drunk and out of his mind. Whatever that came out of his mouth was not to be taken seriously and Inseong could not afford to let Youngbin's slurred words distract him as he guided Youngbin's steps.

On the train they were taking back to the hotel, Youngbin hung onto Inseong's arm while Inseong held the train's handle. 

"Inseongie, Inseongie," Youngbin said, leaning in so close that his breath tickled Inseong's cheek. "Are you taking me to a hotel?"

"Yeah. The hotel where we're staying as teacher chaperones for our high school students."

They repeated this exchange with slight variations until they reached the lobby of their hotel. Once Inseong checked that there were no students in sight, and that Youngbin would not have to risk ruining his image, he put his arm around Youngbin's shoulder and marched him into the lift. He had to let Youngbin stand in one corner as he dug in his pockets for their key card and tapped it against the black panel below the buttons with the floor numbers.

The number of the floor for their room lit up and the lift started to rise. Youngbin behaved himself, staying an arm's length apart from Inseong. He blinked a few times as if he was close to passing out with all the alcohol in his system.

Inseong was all set to drag Youngbin to their room without thinking the opposite would happen. The doors of the lift opened with a ding and at once, Youngbin became alert again, standing up straight with both his eyelids lifted to reveal pupils blown wide. 

Just as Inseong turned away from him, he pounced onto Inseong's back. With his arms around Inseong's neck and his thighs clasped against Inseong's side, he forced his defenseless prey to give him a piggyback ride.

"Youngbin-ah!" Inseong yelped, hooking his hands under Youngbin's knees to keep Youngbin's weight from toppling them both over.

"Inseongie..."

Youngbin didn't say anything else during his short ride on Inseong's back to their room. When they were inside, Inseong first lowered Youngbin down on Youngbin's bed. He accepted his fate as Youngbin pulled him down too, a little exhausted from carrying Youngbin on top of all their walking during the day.

Soon, Youngbin was wriggling out from under him to bury his face into the cotton sleeve of Inseong's jacket.

"Don't go," Youngbin whined.

"What," Inseong said. "Do you want me to sleep here?"

As he was in the middle of sitting up, Youngbin raised his head.

"You want to?"

He looked into Inseong's eyes for his answer. Inseong looked back at him while he tried to hide his head's war with his heart. He could either obey his head's instructions to move to his own bed and preserve his friendship with Youngbin or follow his heart to hold Youngbin close. As if attuned to the cry of Inseong's heart, Youngbin inched closer and even closer, mesmerizing Inseong with his two delicate front teeth that peeked out from behind the slight parting of his lips.

Then those lips were on his and a firework of emotions exploded in Inseong's chest. A thrill over what had happened, a fear of what would happen next and a hint of envy that Youngbin had made the first move. Inseong wanted to pull his own moves but that could wait for after he had his fill of the presses of Youngbin's lips and the warmth of Youngbin in his arms.

Shutting his eyes, he let Youngbin press harder against him and flatten his back on the bed. He had never really thought about what kind of a kisser Youngbin would be but if he had, he would never have guessed that Youngbin was the kind to plunder someone's mouth on his first kiss with that someone. More intrigued than anything, Inseong lifted his chin to offer up his lips for Youngbin's next kiss.

On his next breath, he breathed in the smell of alcohol. Alcohol that Youngbin had drank in copious amounts that evening to the point where he could not walk straight. Inseong froze as doubt crept into his mind on whether Youngbin was thinking straight and whether he would be right there, on top of Inseong, if he had not drunk so much.

With their bodies pressed close together, Inseong had no room to hide his hesitation. Youngbin raised his head, breaking their chain of lovely kisses to peer down at Inseong. Even then, Inseong wanted to stroke Youngbin's cheek or back, and tell him that it was all right. But he was not given any opening to act on his impulse, for Youngbin was getting off the bed and dashing to the bathroom.

The room seemed more chilly to Inseong without Youngbin's warmth near him. He continued lying on the bed and listened to the turning of the lock in the bathroom. It was the sound of Youngbin shutting him out and withdrawing the intimacy that they had earlier shared. All they had learned about each other through stepping beyond the lines of their friendship had been flushed down the toilet, so to speak.

Inseong sat up, derailing his train of pessimistic thoughts before he spiraled into imagining the worst. There was also the possibility that Youngbin needed some privacy to deal with the effects of the beer and soju he had drunk.

To move towards dissolving the tension between them, Inseong went to the closed bathroom door and knocked. "Youngbin-ah, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to take a shower to clear my head."

After Youngbin's muffled voice had faded, all Inseong could hear from the other side of the door was the sound of the shower spray.

They could only talk when Youngbin was done. Inseong had no choice but to retreat to his bed and wait. He sat with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms around his knees, keeping his eyes on the closed door as he put together and broke apart sentences in his head for letting Youngbin know that he had not regretted what they had done.

_**DAY 05** _

On waking up, Inseong reached for his phone on the bedside table. The numbers on his phone's screen told him that it was about 8:30 in the morning. There was a text from Youngbin which said that he had left early to assist the guerilla busking team with their filming.

Sinking back against his pillow, Inseong read and re-read his chatlog with Youngbin.

'OK, see you,' Inseong typed.

He sent his reply before he goaded himself into adding allusions to what happened last night. They had to delay talking about their kiss after Youngbin took ages to finish his shower and Inseong had dozed off on top of his comforter. When Inseong was awake again, he found all the lights in their room switched off save for the bedside nightlights. Youngbin was in his bed, lying on his side and facing away from Inseong.

What they had to talk about was important enough to discuss face to face. First, Inseong had to tell Youngbin that he liked him. He had fallen for Youngbin, having seen Youngbin in a new light even though Youngbin was no different from how he was in Seoul. Perhaps spending lots of time exploring unfamiliar and new places together had led Inseong to see Youngbin as less familiar, and more precious and special to him.

For his brunch, he had bought a set of omelette, sandwich and iced tea at the hotel's restaurant. He chewed each morsel until he had extracted every last bit of flavour, all the better for distracting himself from his dread and impatience to bare his heart to Youngbin.

Yet his memory of their kiss intruded into his thoughts anyway. He would never forget the softness of Youngbin's lips and Youngbin's boldness in aligning their hips flush together. From how Youngbin had moved in to kiss him, he might have known Inseong's feelings for him. It was possible that he wanted Inseong too, if not he would not have been so clingy and spoiled with Inseong on their walk back, even with the alcohol bringing out his playful side.

Inseong sighed, swallowed another forkful of his fluffy omelette and stopped creating a story in his head that would get his hopes up for no good reason. He would only know through a sober conversation whether Youngbin was more affected by him or the alcohol. That would not happen until the evening, maybe after dinner when Youngbin would return to their room.

He had no idea how long Youngbin would be helping out Intak and the Japanese kids. At a loss on what to do without a companion, he returned to his room and lied in bed while catching up on his social media feeds.

His parents had posted a shot of a sumptuous sushi platter that they had for dinner. They must have been inspired to splurge on their food after Inseong had sent them pictures of what he and Youngbin had for lunch at the mountaintop restaurant. Inseong had not uploaded those pictures or any that he had taken in Sydney anywhere else as he had lots of selcas and two-shots with Youngbin to sift through.

After he refreshed his feed, a new post from Youngbin appeared. It was a group shot taken with the guerilla busking team at Hyde Park. Youngbin's smile was as warm as the sunshine outside and as refreshing as the greenery all around him. Inseong liked the post and scrolled on without leaving a heart in his reply as usual. 

None of his fellow teachers had posted anything interesting except for a handful of adorable pet photos and videos. Most likely, they could not have a very eventful spring vacation with the new term looming just around the corner. Or if they had finished planning their lessons, they'd be too drained to do anything that did not involve slumping or lying on a piece of furniture. Inseong knew how they would feel since he had pulled more than a handful of near all-nighters to finish his own lesson plans before flying to Australia.

Despite all his advance preparation, here he was, lazing around in bed like his co-workers back home in his second last day in Sydney. He was rather sorry for his sleep-deprived past self. To search for inspiration on how to better kill his time, he got off his bed and dug through his backpack. Underneath his other stuff, there lied the cardboard cup sleeve that Youngbin had written on and given to Inseong at Incheon Airport.

_'Inseong-ah, I'm gay for real. Do you still want to pretend to date me?'_

The heart that Youngbin had drawn and filled with blank ink wrenched Inseong's own heart. He tore his eyes away from Youngbin's writing to lay them on the complimentary stationery on top of the desk. Beside a pad of blank memo sheets, the hotel had also set down a white ballpoint pen. Both items bore the hotel's logo.

Inseong seized the pen, uncapped it and put its tip to the cup sleeve. He wrote in blue ink:

' _Youngbin-ah, I like you for real. Do you want to date me for real?'_

What he could do next was to slip the small piece of cardboard among Youngbin's luggage. Youngbin would come across it when he needed to get some fresh clothes, then he might notice Inseong's added confession. A happy ending to their trip would unfold in which Youngbin would run into Inseong's arms and pin Inseong down onto the bed once again.

But would Youngbin do that? There was a glaring lack of alcohol in Inseong's imaginary scenario. Inseong would be too big-headed to think that he could intoxicate Youngbin just by being himself.

As if checking what about him could put Youngbin off, he sniffed his armpits for body odour. He did not smell, but that did not bring him much comfort. He had still done the opposite of attracting Youngbin in driving Youngbin away from him.

He shoved the cup sleeve deep into his backpack and took the hotel's memo pad in his hand. After going back to bed with both the memo pad and the pen, he pulled out his phone to play a video of a TOEIC listening exercise. A healthy way to build up his confidence was to get on with his professional duties, one being his goal to retake the English proficiency test to keep his skills sharp.

As the video played, he listened to the sentences of spoken English while reading the questions on his screen. With the pen, he scrawled down his answers to the questions on the memo pad. The exercise had a hundred questions in total, yet he completed only twenty-three as he succumbed to his food coma from brunch.

A long nap later, he became conscious of his defeat. The soft, smooth hotel grade sheets and mattress had got him again, just like last night when he had been raring to have his serious talk with Youngbin. He had to get away from the instrument of his downfall, so he picked up his backpack and put on his shoes to head into town.

The Rocks was a famous shopping and sightseeing spot that Inseong came across again and again in his research of Sydney. He asked and followed directions to get there even if there was nothing in particular he wanted to buy or see. His short journey allowed him to breathe in more cool sea breeze from the surrounding waters, just as he had done at Darling Harbour, and snap a picture of the humongous steel Harbour Bridge.

A blogpost he had read said that visitors were welcome to cross the bridge if they were willing to spare at least forty-five minutes. He wished he had thought of taking up the challenge before napping his afternoon away. Against the backdrop of the blue sky and rippling water, he wouldn't feel so pathetic moping about the trouble of falling in love with his good friend.

Setting foot on the bridge would be good exercise, yet there was an obvious downside that Inseong could not ignore. His effort might just lead to a repeat of him almost collapsing on the 'moderate' trail in the Blue Mountains. He had Youngbin to thank for talking him into taking it easy when there were no important stakes involved and saving him from suffering pins and needles in his legs the day after.

Youngbin was not there to support him in case taking most of an hour to cross Harbour Bridge turned out to be too difficult for him. Inseong sighed, letting himself spiral back into his moping that he put on hold while following the signs pointing to the main square of The Rocks. Climbing up a slope, he thought over whether he would prefer to trade in his kiss with Youngbin for spending another uncomplicated day laughing and having fun with Youngbin.

He would rather not.

He would rather face the reality that he was in too deep.

Without really paying attention to where he was going, he wandered into one of the shops lining the empty market square. He found himself surrounded by a variety of handcrafted soaps and colourful bath bombs.

The goods were so unique that he could not bear to leave without buying anything. Though he had already bought a souvenir for his mom, he picked out a bar of soap for her that resembled a miniature beachfront with a little umbrella, seashell and sandcastle.

He headed to the cashier where there was only one other person in the queue. It turned out to be Youngbin.

Just when he thought he was still dreaming, Youngbin turned towards him. He seemed startled to see him but not displeased.

"Inseong-ah," he greeted.

"Youngbin-ah," Inseong greeted back. "What are you buying?"

"Oh, just these," Youngbin said, glancing down at his basket of sparkling magenta bath bombs. Each brought to mind an exploding star. "Got these for my siblings. What about you?"

Inseong showed him the whimsical design of the soap in his hand. Then Youngbin took his turn to pay, followed by Inseong. Both of them left with paper bags that contained their purchases wrapped in brown paper.

Inseong took a deep breath to steady his hammering heart and said, "What a coincidence to run into you."

"Yeah, it is."

"What are you planning to do next?"

"I was thinking of grabbing a bite. You?"

"I'm looking for some food too."

Inseong was not hungry enough for an early dinner but it was the perfect excuse for sitting down with Youngbin for a while. On the downward slope that led to the winding road out of The Rocks, they had their pick of restaurants and cafes. One of the cafe's decor looked European and rather romantic, and Inseong suggested that they take one of its outdoor tables under a large black umbrella.

He hoped that the atmosphere of the place would remind Youngbin of them dining outdoors on the mountaintop. Reenacting their banter on that outing might even possible once Inseong got the ball rolling for their serious talk. Once the cafe's waitress had taken their orders and removed their menus, Inseong casted about for a strong opening line.

"So...you set off pretty early today."

"Yeah," Youngbin replied. "I had breakfast with the kids."

He showed Inseong pictures of where he had gone with them along with some group shots. Using one of their phones, he had captured the dances that the kids had practiced for guerilla busking in public. There were bound to be lots of highlights in the raw clips that would both impress Inseong and confront him with the reality of his aging creaky joints.

In return, Inseong let Youngbin see his few shots of Harbour Bridge. He had deleted the selcas he had taken near the bridge since he didn't want to retain the evidence of the sorrow in his eyes. When he mumbled that he had spent most of the day in bed, Youngbin didn't ask him why.

They covered almost all the grounds for a safe and unemotional conversation until their orders arrived. Inseong was given a Bolognese pasta with runny tomato sauce while Youngbin's sandwich was made with bread as thick as a dictionary. Putting off finishing his lackluster dish, Inseong drank and nearly choked on what turned out to be a cup of overly strong coffee.

He pretended to check his texts as he looked up the cafe's name with his phone under the table. On Google, the cafe was given a rating of 2.4 stars. He cringed, taking the dismal ratings backed up with the dismal orders on their table as a bad omen. No one was sitting at the other outdoor tables and for all Inseong knew, the cafe's interior beyond windows with tinted glass panes was also empty of customers. He might have avoided the place if he had eaten with Youngbin at their regular time for dinner when an eatery with more empty tables than customers would be far more noticeable.

At the very least, his order was unlikely to give him another case of food coma. He would not lose focus from saying what he needed to say to regain his former closeness with Youngbin.

"Hey, I was wondering," he began. "Did you have a hangover this morning?"

Youngbin nodded, sipping on his iced tea that was their most decent order. "Yeah, just a light one. I took some hangover medicine that I packed."

"Hmm...you were pretty drunk. Did you forget..."Inseong paused and tackled the issue from another angle. "Do you remember what we did? What we did after we drank and got back to our room?"

"Ah, I do," Youngbin replied, looking down as he scratched the back of his head. "I was really stupid, throwing myself at the first available guy like that."

The first available guy--that turned out to be the role that Inseong was playing for Youngbin all along, when they were kissing and holding each other in bed. Maybe Inseong had been playing that role for the whole of the trip so far. He was crushed yet he did his best to kick his disappointment aside since he was still with Youngbin.

"Er, yeah, that's me," Inseong forced his words out. "I am a guy and I am available."

He could not ignore the bitter taste in his mouth. All he had to wash it down was his horrible coffee which he downed without really tasting it. He winced, pretending that the coffee was the only reason for the downturn of his mood. 

"Did you hate it?" He had to ask. "Kissing me, I mean."

"Oh no, not at all..."

At Youngbin's mumbling, Inseong perked up his ears. An electric current seemed to fizzle from his eardrums down to his spine. He tried looking Youngbin in the eye to check whether Youngbin meant what he said, but he could not without Youngbin looking down at the table.

"You liked kissing me?" Inseong pressed.

Youngbin snorted and twisted one corner of his lips into a half-smile as he looked back up.

"Yeah," he admitted. "You were right to stop me from getting into it too much. We shouldn't have gone so far."

"I wasn't stopping you, I was just distracted by the smell of what you drank," Inseong protested. "In an alternate universe with a working time machine, I'd travel back to yesterday night and smack my past self for losing focus. No, wait..."

He paused and added a correction, "I'll throw that distracted guy out of the room and take over to make out with you."

Youngbin sniggered, shook his head and commented, "Instead of making out with me, how about using time travel to become a world leader?"

Before Inseong could flesh out his sci-fi delusion, Youngbin brought their conversation back on track.

"Anyway, it was right for us to stop," he emphasized. "Our friendship is more important than my desperation."

Inseong held his tongue rather than ask what should be done about his own desperation. For that day, he had to settle for knowing that Youngbin was indeed desperate to hold and kiss a guy, even when that guy was him. Youngbin's desperation to act on his attraction to men must have run deep in some or all the years that they had known each other.

Another occasion could pop up in which Inseong could assist Youngbin in getting that pesky desperation out of the way. Once it had surged free and bothered Youngbin no more, Youngbin might be open to reassessing his feelings for Inseong.

A flickering hope for their romance to burn bright remained as Youngbin had not pretended to feel nothing during their kiss. Inseong would give charging towards Youngbin's heart one last shot, saving his next advance for somewhere he could throw himself at Youngbin just like what Youngbin had done in their hotel room.

What he could do right then was limited, but he was not short of ideas.

"You are my important friend," he said, playing with his coffee cup as he took its handle and turned it on its saucer. "I wasn't sure that you felt the same since you took off from the hotel this morning without me knowing."

"I only--"

Struck by the pained look on Youngbin's face, Inseong held his palm up to stop him right there. "I'm joking, just joking. But don't abandon me tomorrow, okay? We only have one full day left here."

"Okay," Youngbin said, smiling at him.

Streaks of orange rays shimmered against the purple tinges on the darkening sky. Dusk was fast approaching, bringing with it an evening of possibilities for the places where Inseong could take Youngbin. Where Inseong could coax Youngbin into sharing more of his inner thoughts. The most obvious location was a bar that was just opening, which would be an appropriate starting point for reenacting the events of night minus the part where their kiss crashed and burned.

In silence, they walked out of The Rocks to the train station at the harbour. Inseong stared at Youngbin's face, half-covered in the shadow of the setting sun, and asked, "Youngbin-ah, do you think you'll throw yourself at any more available guys if you drink again?"

"Uh...I hope not."

Inseong would do all he could to ensure that Youngbin would not. His blood coursed in furious rushes through his veins as a gust of wind from the sea stoked the fire in his heart. 

While they were using the washroom at the train station, they ran into Inseong's homeroom students from the street interview team and Taeyang from the team shooting a short film. Outside, their teammates were waiting for them near the gantry. All of them, including Inseong and Youngbin, decided to go back to their hotel together.

Inseong sat near Chaerin and Bora, the girls from Youngbin's school's drama club, and heard about what they had done all day. After breakfast, they had teamed up with Keeho, Jiung and Jongseob to explore locations in the city. Their partnership had extended to collaborating on each other's content with the girls helping out to interview some Australian guys and Keeho and Jiung getting casted as extras for Bora's character to beat up.

When Inseong was asked to share what he had been up to, he claimed that in the spirit of the study trip, he had been working on his TOEIC preparation in his room. The girls were in awe of his dedication to his work. He did not need any editing software to edit out his mid-afternoon defeat at the hands of his food coma.

His spirits were lighter after soaking in the kids' enthusiasm and pride over their work. Once he and Youngbin were alone in their room, he waited for Youngbin's word on what they should do for the rest of the night.

"I feel like taking a look at the hotel gym," Youngbin said.

"Are you going to work out?" Inseong asked.

"Maybe. I'll check out what machines are available and how packed the place is."

And if any cute, available guys happened to be standing around flexing their developed pecs, would Youngbin check them out too? He had said he was not hoping to throw himself at anyone, but there was no telling what he would do after a sweaty workout with his pulse racing in a mimicry of the state of arousal. 

Inseong could not stop his stupid brain from piecing together the beginning of an adult film which involved a shadowy male figure leading Youngbin into a hotel room. The Youngbin that he knew wouldn't do such again, yet then again, Inseong had not known until last night that Youngbin had it in him to initiate a drunken kiss. He had to stick close to Youngbin to learn all he could about him, his familiar friend who had become his new love.

"I'll work out too!" Inseong insisted and strode to his suitcase. "Let's see, do I have any clothes for exercising..."

Behind him, Youngbin landed heavily on his bed as he sat at its edge and watched Inseong dig through his clothes.

"You don't have to," Youngbin said. "You've exercised a lot this vacation just from walking around town and going hiking a couple of days ago. If you start to love working out, you'll become someone I don't know."

"That's exactly my plan," Inseong declared, giving a serious reply to Youngbin's teasing.

When he turned with an extra pair of sweatpants slung over his arm, his skin tingled at the way Youngbin was staring at him. Youngbin had his head tilted sideways, as if he was searching for clues on what had gotten into Inseong.

"Come on," Inseong said and changed his pants without any delay.

On his way to check his reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall, he spotted a part of the cover of a Men's Health magazine peeking out from between the folded clothes in Youngbin's suitcase. He recalled that Youngbin had bought the magazine before boarding their plane.

"Hey, can I borrow your Men's Health?" He asked, already bending down to pick it up. "For inspiration."

"Sure," Youngbin replied. "That's actually a good idea."

Flipping through the glossy pages, Inseong found the article he had snuck a peek at--the one about the 'prison workout' for breaking out of a prison of fats. It would do for keeping both he and Youngbin occupied. None of the exercises in the workout looked especially difficult and as Inseong studied the diagram of a man doing push-ups, he imagined his biceps growing larger.

_**DAY 06** _

Inside his comforter cocoon, Inseong was curled up into a small, snoozing ball. Eight hours had passed since he had survived the prison workout and entered the land of dreams where there were no dumbbells or pull-up bars. He remembered staggering into the shower and Youngbin clapping him on the back, congratulating him for completing what he had set out to do.

A loud buzz from Inseong's phone resounded throughout the room. Still half-asleep, Inseong checked his notifications. It was from his Instagram app alerting him to Youngbin's new post. Squinting at the preview of Youngbin's caption, he tapped on the notification.

What he saw got him fully awake: a picture of Youngbin and some of the kids sitting around a mouth-watering spread of seafood. The golden fish and chips, the rings of calamari, the grilled oysters with cheese and the thick slices of bright red sashimi were definitely the reason behind their identical wide grins.

Inseong glanced at the bed next to his. Sure enough, it was empty. Scowling, Inseong called Youngbin right away.

"Youngbin-ah, where have you taken the kids?"

"Good morning," Youngbin greeted. "We're at Sydney Fish Market. I guess you saw my Instagram post?"

"Yeah, I saw it. Why did you take them there without me?"

Inseong cringed at how whiny he sounded. Though no one else was around to hear him, he slid down his bed until his mouth was hidden under the comforter.

"Actually, we agreed to go together," Youngbin replied. "Do you remember the students inviting us to come along last night, at the hotel lobby?"

"Did they?"

The part in Inseong's memory from when he and Youngbin parted with the students was a blank. Inseong could only blame his impatience to be alone with Youngbin again.

"They did. They wanted to have breakfast at the fish market and asked if we were interested too. If I remember correctly, it was Keeho who asked."

"Oh yeah, I remember that part," Inseong sighed as his last conversation with Keeho near the lift came back to him. "Oh no...I guess you couldn't wake me up when it was time to go."

Youngbin laughed. "That's right. You even mumbled that you weren't hungry."

"That doesn't sound like me," Inseong grumbled. "Could I be possessed? Did Men's Health take the soul I was born with?"

His dramatic joke at his own expense earned him a few more giggles from Youngbin. It cheered him up a little.

"Don't get too sad, it's already our last day here," Youngbin said.

Just to have Youngbin comfort him, Inseong grumbled some more. "I'm depressed. I'm going back to sleep and dream about fish and squid and other delicious seafood swimming away from me."

"Hey, don't!" Youngbin laughed and added, "I'll treat you to lunch, okay? How about eating at a seaside restaurant and hanging out at the beach later?"

"Sounds good," Inseong replied, sitting upright and kicking his comforter aside.

They agreed to meet at the first bus stop in Bondi beach. When Inseong was about to leave, someone knocked on the door of his room. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, thinking that he would let housekeeping in as he stepped out.

But it wasn't housekeeping who knocked. Haeyoon, Yuju and Jiwon from Yonghwa Girls' stood before him, asking if they could talk to him. Inseong let them in, closed the door and put his backpack down on the carpeted floor.

The three girls explained that they had stayed behind to finish the last part of their film project based on a game they had called the '100mm exchange'. At the start, they had a 01mm object that they had traded for another object that was 01mm longer, then they had to trade that object for another that was also 01mm longer and so on and so forth until they obtained an object that was 100mm long. With the rule that they could only trade one object per person, they had been making their trades with strangers around town.

They were wondering if Inseong had a 100mm object for them to make their last trade. The only thing Inseong had of that length was his trusty lip balm which he handed over to the girls.

Using a ruler, Haeyoon measured Inseong's stick of cherry lip balm from end to end.

"Oh, it's 11.2 cm," she sighed. "Do you happen to have anything else shorter, seonsaengnim?"

"Hmm...why not take off 12 mm as part of the length of the packaging?" Inseong suggested. "The actual lip balm inside seems a lot shorter."

Haeyoon turned to her teammates and asked, "Should we?" 

In the interest of collecting more interesting material for their project, Inseong followed up his suggestion with a mission for one of the girls to finalize their trade. He would compete with whoever wanted to challenge him to use the lip balm to outline the lips of their reflection in the room's full-length mirror with their eyes closed. The final owner of the lip balm was the one whose outline was more accurate.

Jiwon stepped up for Inseong's mission. Though Inseong had not been extra clumsy to let her win, she beat him anyway. It was all captured on Yuju's phone along with Inseong sharing friendly high-touches with each of the team members. 

For his lip balm, the girls gave him a 99mm long cotton ear swab in return. He used it to clean his ears as he stood at a bus stop and waited for the bus to Bondi beach.

While his ears could go without being swabbed for a few days, his lips craved a fresh coating of lip balm every few hours. Inseong could not remember when he had last kicked his lip balm habit temporarily. Probably during his basic military training and not by his choice. On the one-hour bus ride to the beach, he kept folding his lips inwards to moisten them whenever they turned dry.

A stretch of sand and shimmering waves came into view once the bus drove past a row of houses. Staring ahead, Inseong spotted Youngbin sitting at the bus stop where they had planned to meet. Just as the bus was coming to a stop, Youngbin stood up with a smile and waved at Inseong. Inseong waved back, smacking his dry lips once again for good measure. 

He managed to ignore his lip balm deprivation during lunch at McDonalds. Unlike the fish market, the only seafood that it offered was a fish fillet burger. Youngbin claimed that he was too broke to treat Inseong to anything fancier, but he would still not stint on Inseong upsizing his set meals and ordering an extra chocolate sundae. Inseong didn't mind since eating in an outlet of an international food chain with quality control was ten times better than having a meal at the 2.4 stars restaurant that he had landed them in yesterday.

While they sat at a booth and dug into their meals, Inseong told Youngbin about his contribution to the girls' 100mm exchange.

"Are you going to get a new lip balm?" Youngbin asked.

"Yeah, I hope I can get it from a convenience store nearby." Inseong licked his lips to get rid of the grease from his fries and said, "Wonder why my lips get so dry so quickly. Maybe they're calling out for someone to kiss them."

To his pointed reference to what they had done, Youngbin just went, "Hmm..."

He looked away from Inseong and sipped on his coke. Inseong smirked to himself, thinking he would tease Youngbin a little more. 

All around the McDonalds were shops that were crowded right in front of the beach. Just right around the corner, a 7-11 stocked sealed packages of peach-flavoured lip balm that Inseong was delighted to get his hands on. Holding it behind his back, he approached Youngbin and peered with him into the store's open fridge.

Inseong asked, "Feel like having some peaches?"

"Peaches?" Youngbin picked up a fruit cup from the fridge to inspect its contents and put it back. "They don't sell them in the fruit cups here. Do you feel like eating peaches?"

"Oh, you can get them from here," Inseong said, showing him the peach lip balm he was planning to buy. "But you have to eat them from here."

He curled his lips into a smile and pointed at them. That got Youngbin flustered, and Inseong could only describe what Youngbin did next as a mix of cringing and snorting. Leaving Youngbin to return to normal on his own, he brought his new lip balm to the cashier. 

He would have thought twice about teasing Youngbin if he knew Youngbin would go all quiet. Youngbin did not say a word as they strolled on the sand, passing beachgoers in swimsuits chatting and suntanning on towels. In the distance, swimmers and surfers with their boards returned dripping wet back to dry land.

Without doing any of the typical beach activities, Inseong was content to just walk with Youngbin. The roar of the crashing waves matched the pounding of his heart. Lightly bumping his arm against Youngbin's arm, he tried to salvage the result of his teasing.

"Hey," he said. "I shouldn't have done all that stuff with my lips. Sorry for being shameless."

"Oh, don't be," Youngbin replied as he gave Inseong a little smile. "Those are very nice lips."

"'Very nice', as in outstanding? As in kissable?"

As Youngbin halted his steps, Inseong did the same. After they turned to face each other, Inseong was struck with the full force of Youngbin's admiration for his lips. His cheeks grew hot under Youngbin's scrutiny of the shape and pout of his mouth.

"You can look at it all you want," he said. "But it's a pity to just look, when my lips are right here for you to kiss."

"I..." Youngbin slid his gaze up to Inseong's eyes, then back down to Inseong's mouth. "I'd better not."

"Why not?" Inseong did not want to talk Youngbin into doing what he did not want to do, but Youngbin seemed like he needed Inseong to talk him into doing what he wanted to do deep in his heart. Without a care for the knot in his stomach, his fear of breaking everything he shared with Youngbin apart, he took the lead to guide Youngbin towards what they both wanted.

"I'd better not throw myself at you again," Youngbin explained. "I might make a habit out of making the first move and get a new complex over whether other guys will do that for me, for once. It's really silly."

Inseong shook his head. He reached out to rest his hands on both of Youngbin's shoulders and asked, "Would you like me to kiss you, then?"

Youngbin blinked, gulped and said, "If you want to..."

Inseong leaned in, bringing their faces closer together. "Do you want me to?"

"Yes...Do it."

Those were the magic words for Inseong to give Youngbin his kiss. Just a light press of his mouth on Youngbin's mouth to leave Youngbin wanting more. That was his original plan, and he was sorely tempted to abandon it when Youngbin started to kiss him back. In the brief silence between the breaking of the waves, Inseong separated their lips.

His heart clenched as Youngbin grabbed his forearm, keeping him close. Summoning all his self-control, Inseong patted the back of Youngbin's hand and gave his excuse.

From the pocket of his jacket, he took out his new stick of peach lip balm. "I want to use this."

Youngbin watched him uncap the lip balm and trace its orange pink tip over his lips. After Inseong pocketed it, he circled one arm around Youngbin's shoulders and drew him closer. He waited for Youngbin to tilt his head up before laying another kiss.

Pulling back while still holding Youngbin against his side, he asked, "How's that? Wasn't that sweet?"

"There is a faintly sweet taste. But it's more like lychee than peach," Youngbin commented.

"Oh yeah?" Inseong took out his lip balm again to check its smell. All it had was a generic fruity scent. "I can't tell from the smell. Can I put some on you and try it myself?"

"Sure," Youngbin said, offering up his mouth.

With a few practiced strokes, Inseong painted Youngbin's lips into the same shade as his lips. Their next kiss was more delicious than the one before but not because of the lip balm. Sweeter than any fruit flavouring was Youngbin's soft sigh as he parted his lips for the tip of Inseong's tongue to flick against the bottom of his teeth. As Inseong rested his palm and fingers along the curve of Youngbin's neck, Youngbin leaned into his touch.

"Hmm," Inseong took another short break to say. "Still can't tell which fruit this lip balm actually tastes like. By the way, this colour doesn't really suit you."

"Oh, I see." Youngbin folded his lips inwards to taste the lip balm again. "Should I wipe it off?"

"I'll do it for you," Inseong said and performed the service with his mouth.

He suggested that they return to the hotel where they could kiss uninterrupted. That would be best for curing Youngbin's desperation to be kissed. Youngbin liked Inseong's idea very much and did not even try to pretend that he was not very desperate. While walking to the bus stop back to town, Inseong had to look away from Youngbin's subtle attempts at licking his lips like he was trying to absorb the traces of Inseong's kisses.

One of them had started holding the other's hand. Inseong was not sure who and it did not matter anyway. Their hands just kept bumping together until they saw their bus about to pull to a stop, giving them a good reason to interlock their fingers and run for it.

Inseong missed Youngbin's clinginess on the night when Youngbin got drunk. He would not mind a repeat of that night if he could get just as drunk as Youngbin. In the lift of the hotel, he pressed the button for the floor where the bar was and told Youngbin to go up first without him.

Out of the bar's offerings, he selected a bottle of Bordeaux Merlot. When he rejoined Youngbin in their room, Youngbin was waiting for him seated on his own bed. Two clean glasses were set out on the bedside table. Inseong poured their first servings of red wine and plonked the heavy bottle down behind the glasses. 

The wine seemed to meet Youngbin's standards. Like a gourmet, Youngbin sniffed and swirled his drink.

He took one sip and commented, "Mm, nice. Let's toast to your good taste."

"Cheers," Inseong said, raising his glass.

They clinked their glasses and drained their wine. When Youngbin's glass was empty, Youngbin helped himself to the bottle Inseong had placed on the bedside table. All at once, the level of what remained in the bottle plunged while Youngbin filled more than half his glass.

"Hey!" Inseong shook his fist in mock anger. "Leave some for me!"

Youngbin held up his palm as if telling Inseong it was no big deal. He could not speak, not when he was drinking from his glass and pouring more wine down his throat.

Midway through his second glass, he was tipsy enough to turn to Inseong and ask, "Want to drink from my mouth?"

Inseong set his glass aside. "Don't mind if I do."

Soon, they were both lying on Youngbin's bed with Inseong on top of Youngbin. He let Youngbin roll them over to get Inseong under him. Just when Inseong was sweeping his hand down Youngbin's back, Youngbin unpeeled his lips from Inseong's mouth to say, "Hold on, please."

"Yeah?" Inseong stroked the side of Youngbin's waist. "Have you had enough?"

"No, I just need a short break. You see, I'm...reacting..."

Instead of explaining what he meant, he began to roll away from Inseong. Inseong held him tighter around the waist, holding him in place.

Youngbin did not have to explain anything. Inseong had recognised the tell-tale weight of Youngbin's arousal pressing against his hip and thigh before Youngbin drew his attention to it. It charged Inseong up with pride even if he could only feel through their clothes the evidence of what his touches and kisses did to Youngbin.

"There's nothing to worry about," Inseong said. "I'm reacting too."

The proof was right there between their bodies. Inseong flipped Youngbin down onto the bed, getting on top again so he could press their hips flush together and let Youngbin feel what he was talking about.

"Inseongie," Youngbin moaned. "I can feel yours..."

As if that wasn't enough to blow apart Inseong's self-control, he thrust up against Inseong's hip. Inseong grunted, taking measured breaths to force himself to stay still. Going all the way without talking about what they wanted in the long haul--not just what their bodies wanted--might introduce more unneeded tension and conflict. Inseong never again wanted to drive Youngbin away from him.

"We don't need to do anything with our reactions today," he said. "Just know I don't dislike it. I appreciate it."

He brought home the message with a nuzzle and a kiss on the side of Youngbin's neck. Then Youngbin wrapped his arms around Inseong's back, warming Inseong up from within.

"Thank you," Youngbin said, his breath tickling Inseong's cheek. "I'm really happy you're here with me."

It did not take long for Inseong to see that like Youngbin, he too needed a break to let his body cool down. Sitting against the pillows propped against the wall behind the bed, he offered his shoulder for Youngbin to rest his head on. He rehydrated through drinking more red wine straight from the bottle and let Youngbin do the same.

"We should order another bottle with dinner from room service," Youngbin said as he passed the wine bottle to Inseong for him to put it back on the bedside table.

"Good idea," Inseong replied. "What should we have?"

"Anything...Anything we can feed each other."

Struck by his cheeky suggestion, Youngbin giggled into the front of Inseong's shirt. Inseong imagined him feeding Youngbin chocolate-coated strawberries or vice versa.

He hugged Youngbin against him and said, "That sounds good too. But I don't think you should have any more wine."

"But I want more, Inseongie-hyung," Youngbin protested, drawing his fingers up and down the middle of Inseong's clothed chest.

No matter how much of a sexy cutie Youngbin was when wined up, Inseong was not going to go easy on him. He took hold of Youngbin's fingers so Youngbin could not move them any lower. For a while, they lied together in silence with Inseong still keeping Youngbin's hand pressed against his chest.

The relaxed atmosphere was perfect for Inseong to test the waters and figure out what Youngbin actually wanted, what he was looking for in the man he would let into his heart. Even after all the heated and lazy kisses that they had shared, he had not lost sight of his larger goal to have more than one peaceful, intimate evening and even entire days that involved Youngbin by his side.

"Hey, I'm still curious about one thing," Inseong said. "When I asked at the airport if you were attracted to anyone we both know, you said you'll tell me next time."

"Oh, that. I actually wanted to say that you're my most attractive friend." Youngbin raised his head from Inseong's shoulder to look up and ask, "Does that make you happy?"

"Very happy," Inseong replied.

Their break from kissing had gone on long enough. First, Inseong planted a kiss on Youngbin's forehead, then another on the corner of Youngbin's lips. Instead of giving them a proper kiss, he went further down to nibble the skin of Youngbin's neck, coaxing out soft sighs and moans that he would drink from Youngbin's mouth.

_**DAY 07** _

From a dreamless sleep, Inseong was awoken with Youngbin's voice and a gentle shake on his shoulder.

"Come on, Inseongie. You still need to brush your teeth and wash your face."

Inseong pried his eyes open to see Youngbin looking down on him. It seemed just a minute ago when they were lying together under the covers after having no more energy left for making out. Youngbin must have rolled away from Inseong's embrace earlier to use the bathroom first and get ready to leave the hotel.

After watching Inseong climb out of bed, Youngbin crossed the room to lock his toiletries in his suitcase. In the bathroom, Inseong brushed his teeth and splashed cold water on his face. He had meant to discuss with Youngbin what they should do when they were back in Seoul, but that had not happened. Neither of them had managed to recover from the effects of the wine they drank before falling asleep.

Inseong shaved and took a quick shower, firming his resolve to focus on his immediate duties. When Inseong was ready, he and Youngbin brought their luggage down to the lobby to check out and waited for the students to gather. Everyone was half-awake and far from fresh, but they were all punctual to depart for their early flight to return home. Youngbin watched them take turns checking out and did a final headcount while Inseong stepped outside to look out for the vehicle he had booked to take them to the airport.

For their flight, Inseong had picked a ticket with a seat number that put him in the same row as Intak and Shota. The two boys thanked him for sitting by the window, since in that seat they would not have to worry about bothering him if they needed to leave their row and use the toilet.

Inseong actually preferred sitting apart from Youngbin. A long plane ride was definitely not ideal for two friends to discuss their future after a night of sleeping in the same bed without talking about what they felt about each other. 

Right after the plane took off, Intak and Shota went back to sleep. Inseong slept too until the flight attendants were serving everyone breakfast. While they ate, the boys told Inseong about parts of downtown Sydney that Inseong had not visited. Inseong talked about his trip to the Blue Mountains in return and showed them pictures of the scenery that he had taken at the lookouts.

Last evening, Inseong's father had sent a text saying that he was free to pick Inseong up from the airport. Inseong requested for his dad to give Youngbin a lift too. Though Youngbin had insisted that he did not mind taking the train home, he agreed to take the free ride to get home sooner and get more rest before the start of the new term tomorrow. He had not guessed Inseong's true intention to not part with him right away at the official end of the study trip.

After retrieving his luggage and saying goodbye to the students, Inseong found his dad among the crowd waiting in front of the arrival gate. His dad approached him and Youngbin, greeting both of them and asking how Youngbin had been. Together, they went to the basement where Inseong's dad had parked his dark green hatchback Honda Civic.

The ride to Youngbin's apartment was shorter than Inseong thought. Along the way, he mostly remained quiet as his dad chatted with Youngbin. His dad told Youngbin that Inseong's mom was out of town for a short vacation with her friends on Jeju Island.

As the car pulled up at the entrance of Youngbin's small apartment building, Inseong groaned on the inside. He tried to act normal while Youngbin thanked his dad and got out of the car to get his suitcase.

Getting out too, he followed Youngbin and said, "I'll walk you to the door."

"It's fine, you should quickly go home and rest," Youngbin replied he lifted his suitcase out of the back of the car. "You've got an early day tomorrow too."

Youngbin pulled up the handle of his suitcase and turned towards his apartment building. Smiling, he gave Inseong a final wave and told him, "See you soon."

"See you," Inseong said.

He stood still and watched Youngbin's back get further and further away from him. When Youngbin had entered the building with his suitcase and was out of Inseong's sight, Inseong went back around to the front of the car. He opened the door next to the passenger's seat to talk to his dad.

"Ready to go?" His dad asked.

"Dad, would you mind going home with just my luggage? I've got something to discuss with Youngbin and it'll take a while. I think I'll have to stay over at his place."

"Is anything wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Inseong said. "Just complicated."

"Okay," his dad replied. "If you want to go home anyway, just take a cab."

"Sure."

Reaching from the front, Inseong grabbed his backpack that he had left on the backseat.

"Bye, dad," he said and shut the car's door.

While marching towards Youngbin's building, he looked over his shoulder to see the bright yellow taillights of his dad's car disappear. He entered the building's tiny lift and jabbed the button for the third floor, which was the floor for Youngbin's studio apartment. Once the lift doors opened, he walked out and looked to his left and right, seeing no one around in the hallway.

He rummaged in his backpack for the cardboard cup sleeve that he had shoved all the way to the bottom of his bag. The same cup sleeve on which Youngbin had written his message for coming out to Inseong. And beneath that, there was Inseong's own confession for Youngbin:

' _Youngbin-ah, I like you for real. Do you want to date me for real?'_

Inseong re-read his own handwriting, clutched the cup sleeve in his hand and took large strides to Youngbin's door. Releasing a long breath, he pressed on the doorbell.

Youngbin soon answered the door. He had changed into a grey sweater and light blue sweatpants, looking like he was just about to go to bed.

"Oh, Inseongie," he greeted. "What's up? Is your dad still waiting for you downstairs?"

"He has left. I asked him to go home first without me so I can give you this." 

Throwing caution to the wind, Inseong held out the cardboard cup sleeve. He felt like he was on the verge of fainting once Youngbin had taken it from him. He stared down at his feet and prepared himself to flee from what was coming.

Then he heard Youngbin say, "Would you like to come in and talk about this?"

"Yes, I'd like to, very much," Inseong said in a rush.

The sides of his face prickled and grew hot. As Youngbin let him in and closed the door, Inseong took his shoes off and looked around. The small apartment seemed unchanged from Inseong's last visit in being clean, tidy and packed with cute trinkets and character goods. On the couch, there was a panda cushion with a curly smiling mouth that Inseong could not resist turning over to better tackle serious matters. He set his backpack down next to the coffee table and rolled his shoulders to shake off some of his tension. 

Turning to Youngbin, he said, "You don't have to reply right away. To the question I wrote, I mean."

"I have my own questions too." Youngbin stood with both arms at his sides, staring at Inseong as he asked, "So, you like me?"

"Yeah."

"And what's this about wanting to date for real?"

"Meaning I want to go on real dates," Inseong explained. "Here, in the city where we live in and not just in a foreign county. On a real date, I would really introduce you as my...boyfriend? Partner?"

He shrugged and added, "Whatever term works for you." 

His heart twisted as he noticed that Youngbin had let his eyes go wide and his mouth fall open. While Inseong had hoped that his explosive confession would go off like a firework, it turned out to be more like a bomb that had turned the very room they were standing in into rubble. The hurt in Inseong's chest sliced at his insides as Youngbin sighed and shook his head.

"I get it," Inseong said with a slight trembling in his voice, cutting to the chase for both their sake. "You don't like me back. You don't have to--"

Before he could finish, Youngbin had seized him by his shoulders and shouted in his face, "I do like you! I started liking you first!"

Inseong was stunned, robbed of his words. He allowed Youngbin to guide him around the coffee table, walking backwards until the back of his knees hit the couch's edge. As he sat down, Youngbin took a seat beside him.

Even if he could not quite believe that Youngbin liked him back, he still managed to give Youngbin a wavery smile.

"Hey," he said, shifting closer to Youngbin. "If we like each other, we can just..."

"No, we can't," Youngbin said. "I'm sorry I gave you the idea to like me."

"Huh? I don't get what you're saying."

"You wouldn't have thought of liking me, your male friend, if I hadn't told you that I'm gay," Youngbin insisted. "I've told you before that our friendship is important to me."

"It's important to me too," Inseong argued. "You're important to me."

Their eyes met right then and Inseong could tell from Youngbin's pained look that Youngbin was holding back. They were both aching to hold each other, but Youngbin would not let that happen.

Turning away, Youngbin muttered, "You don't even like men."

"Who says?" Inseong scoffed. "I like being with you. I like holding your hand, I like kissing you and I like lying in bed in with you."

"That's in Sydney," Youngbin sighed. "You might like all that a lot less, now that we're back in our regular lives."

"You sound so sure that would happen. Who knows, the opposite might happen, and you could be the one who'd turn out to not like the regular me so much. Couldn't you just dump me when that happens?"

"That will..." Youngbin coughed once, then continued, "That will never happen..."

He said nothing as he brushed away a tear from the corner of his eye. Alarmed, Inseong threw his arms around Youngbin and pressed his face against the soft fabric of Youngbin's sweater without caring that Youngbin might push him aside.

"No, don't cry," he sobbed. "I'll stop making you cry. I'll...I'll leave."

He closed his eyes, soaking in the warmth that Youngbin gave off through his clothes. When Youngbin started shaking in Inseong's arms, Inseong thought he had only gotten Youngbin more upset, but then Youngbin laugh.

"I can't let you leave," he said. "You're crying so much."

"Oh..." Inseong mumbled and raised his head.

As he reopened his eyes, he noticed that his cheeks had become damp. Most of the wetness of his tears had been absorbed by the sleeve of Youngbin's sweater. Just when he was loosening his hold around Youngbin, Youngbin stopped him.

Youngbin rested his hand on Inseong's arm and stroked back and forth, saying, "I like being with you and you like being with me. That should be enough, right? Why are we suffering like this?"

"Yeah, why are we?" Inseong huffed.

He could not help but shake Youngbin a little for dragging out their joint suffering. Such suffering might be inevitable for Youngbin to accept his feelings and Inseong would never regret having suffered with Youngbin.

With the back of his hand, Inseong wiped the drying tear tracks on his cheeks and said, "Okay, enough suffering. We really need to get some sleep."

"Sure. I'll get you a new toothbrush."

Youngbin also lent Inseong some comfortable clothes to sleep in. After Inseong got changed and brushed his teeth, he got into bed with Youngbin. Youngbin's bed was a single, but still big enough for both of them to lie in.

As Youngbin hugged Inseong around his waist and snuggled against Inseong's side, he whispered, "Good night."

"Good night."

Inseong lied awake for a while longer. There was still one question he had to ask to get his sweet dreams.

"Youngbin-ah," Inseong said, stroking Youngbin's hair to soothe Youngbin in case he had interrupted Youngbin's sleep. "In the very near future, why don't we do in this bed all we had done in our Sydney hotel room? All that...and more."

"Hmm...we could, but maybe not on a school night."

Inseong nodded and shut his eyes. He imagined that when that night arrived, they might have gotten so crazy about each other that they would not care whether it was a school night or not. He could see that happening to them in their future as a couple. As for what else would happen, what celebrations or disappointments might lie ahead, he would just have to wait and see. 

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic, Inseong has lost to a mountain, an emu, food coma and his usual nemesis gym. But Youngbin still sees him as a tall glass of water. 
> 
> My BinSeong fan account: [@guava_otp93](https://twitter.com/guava_otp93)


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